Does anyone else pick the bits of skin off the side of their fingernails and pull and fiddle at them until they rip down in a satisfying and bloody mess?

[FrannyandZooey]

and could you kindly suggest to me that I STOP DOING IT as I fear I may lose a finger or two at this rate

I have no idea why I am indulging this bad habit so much this week. I have 3 on the go and it ruddy hurts tbh

it's not so bad as soon as you have done it, but the next day when you wake up and it is all swollen

apologies to the squeamish btw
thank god for 'hide this thread'

VVVQ -- nail clippers. Exactly.

I know what you mean re: the sides.

I don't think MNers are more likely to be like this - I think people who don't do this see the thread title, think 'freaks' and don't open the thread. So we only end up with people in here who do this.

How come, if you start a thread on blow jobs or whatever, some people feel compelled to come in and say 'ewww gross' but nobody does for this?

Oh God, I do this too, fingers, cheeks, toes scabs.Oh the shame! Thank goodness it's not just me!

The only thing that might conceivably put me off is that every now and then, e.g. on a train I see someone else doing thing and watching someone else literally eat their hand is soooo unattractive, so maybe just imagine what it looks like when people see you do it.

ooh - tops of toes where they get all dry...

LOL NQC
HC came in and said ewww gross
I think she is the only sane person on MN some days

EYELASHES???? are you sure? now that is just ODD

What are you people on about re tweezers and even nail clippers fgs

Get a cuticle cutter that doesn't leave any jagged edges to continue picking on. Or even the standard manicure cutterlike this.

I don't do scabs btw

I used to like peeling sunburnt skin when I was a child - don't get suntan now so it doesn't happen
you know when you can get a good bit going almost like a sheet of clingfilm

Cote we LIKE picking
it's like a little hobby for us, we are going to start a club and have a fanzine and stuff and our own website

l'Occitane makes a brilliant hand cream. Very effective in keeping skin around nails soft so no hard bits to pick on.

I LIKE picking, too, franny. Always have, and in all likelihood, always will

But if you want to cut away the skin, go for one of these contraptions rather than tweezers & nail clippers.

Oh yes, definitely. Not skin, but the immense satisfying pleasure of finally afgter much digging and delving, getting a hangnail out at the root, to be followed by much blood instantly

Even better if it then goes septic, the exquisite pain and total enjoyment of squeezing the pus.

(Also does feet).

surel if there are that many of us doing it then anyone who isn't a picker is a freak?

(cheeks, lips, fingers, toes (but only with clippers) ingrown hairs, you name it i pick it.)

course i'm a complete wreck so that's my excuse.

Scabs and spots, too, yes.

Actually, a friend of mine was telling me the other day about an ex of hers who had a real thing for squeezing spots. So every so often he would smear margarine on his forehead, come up in one giant horrible spot, and squeeze it. [impressed]

Yes, HC is sensible. At least this stuff (unlike the sex stuff) actually is gross.

Me too! I am a:
Thumb picker
Nail biter
Finger skin chewer
Foot skin picker
Eyelash puller
Toenail bit-of-skin-down-the-side puller
Scab picker

I used to scratch little bald patches onto my scalp when I was a teenager - thankfully have stopped this, as I was too embarrassed to go to the hairdresser for about 6 years

I have been a self-harmer for about 15 years though.

i don't know nqc i thought the period sex stuff was a bit gross

puz is special fingernail pus by the way

Other people's sex is always gross. But less gross than this stuff. And less likely to be something you spot the signs of, iyswim.

Feet, feet, feet. All the way, it really is disgusting. Try to make them presentable for summer. But those non-sock/tight wearing days make it all the more tempting to pick and pick. Heels, toes, soles - no where is safe. DH keeps buying me creams and scholl 'devices' to try and make me stop, but they are only encouragement for my sick, sick hobby. Glad I'm not the only one.

i love pullimg eyelashes aswell extra, especially when theres a few crumbs in the morning.
i have a bit of psoriasis on my head, i have a good pick in the evening, sometimes i go a bit too far and end up with a small hole. i visited my hairdresser and she gasped "oh my god ,did you know you had a head injury?", i had to confess i was a picker.

I would love to wear a pair of heel-less mules in the summer, but my heels are all red and shiney looking. I'm desperately trying to get them decent for the summer, but then I absent-mindedly rip a whole sheet off them whilst watching Desperate Housewives or something

ohhhhhhhh, I must show this thread to DH, he goes MENTAL at my picking. and yes, then there's the bit where you pull and pick too far, and bugger me!!! that hurts

has anyone mentioned squeezing someone else's blackheads? i think its a primeval instinct, like baboons etc, dh refuses to participate though.

Fuck's sake. Most offensive thread title of the month.

I cannot, just cannot, understand biters and goudgers. My dh is that way inclined. Why did I marry him

'Offensive'??? To whom?